Ronald Weasley and the Triwizard Tournament
by Minister for Magic
Summary: When Ron's name comes out of the Goblet of Fire, he has no idea what to expect. Harry believes him, but will Fred and George ever forgive him? Also, how will the affect You-Know-Who's plan?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters or events. **

Chapter One:  
>The Goblet of Fire<p>

"The champion for Durmstrang," said Dumbledore. "is Viktor Krum!"

"Krum! Krum! Krum!" Ron yelled as the delegations from Durmstrang erupted in a strong applause. Karkaroff slapped Krum on the back and yelled, "Well done, Viktor! Make me proud!"

Once everyone had quieted down, and Krum had disappeared into the Trophy Room, the Goblet of Fire turned red once more. A second piece of parchment propelled out by the flames.

"The Champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore. "Will be Fleur Delacour!"

Ron nearly blushed as he saw the girl who resembled a Veela get up gracefully and shake Dumbledore's hand. He felt Harry tap him on the shoulder, but Ron couldn't take his eyes of Fleur.

Soon, the Goblet of Fire turned red again. There was utter silence as the piece of parchment which held the name of the Hogwarts champion shot into Dumbledore's hand.

_Please, let it be Angelina_," Ron found himself praying. _Not Diggory, pleeaasse. _

"The Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory!"

"No!" Ron said loudly, but only Harry heard him.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily. "We now have our three champions! I am sure that I can count on you, Hogwarts, as well as Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions your fullest support! By cheering your champion on, you will make a great contribution to—"

But Dumbledore stopped speaking. It was apparent to everyone what had distracted him.

The Goblet of Fire had turned red again. A long flame shot into the air, and another piece of parchment landed near Dumbledore's feet.

There was a long pause, and Dumbledore bent down to pick up the parchment. He stared at what it said for a long while, and everyone started whispering among themselves.

"Whattya s'pose it says?" Dean Thomas asked Ron.

But Ron was too transfixed to speak. Whose name was on the parchment?

Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out loudly,

"_Ronald Weasley."_

Ron was struck dumb. He felt everyone in the Great Hall look at him.

"Git," Fred and George muttered at the same time.

"There must be a mistake," Ginny said. "Not Ron."

"Ronald Weasley!" Dumbledore yelled again.

"C'mon, Ron," Harry said, though he sounded just as surprised as everyone else. "Get up."

Ron got silently to his feet and walked towards Dumbledore. Everywhere, people were looking at him with a mixture of amazement and disgust.

This was not meant to happen. Ron was never supposed to be the one who got the glory, the one who all the weird things happened to him that made him famous. That was Harry, it wasn't him.

"He's only a fourth year!" someone shouted

"He's nowhere near seventeen!" another yelled.

"Cheater!" many other people screamed, and Ron was sure that he heard Fred and George's voices mixed in it.

He had reached Dumbledore now. The Headmaster stared at him for a few moments and then handed him the parchment. Ron stared at it. There, in ink, it said _Ronald Weasley- Hogwarts _in a writing that looked very much like his own.

"I didn't do this," Ron said quietly, though he doubted that Dumbledore heard him.

"Proceed to the Trophy Room," Dumbledore said, gesturing behind him.

Ron walked past Snape, who glowered at him. He then saw McGonnagal, who was looking anxious, then Hagrid, who looked shocked and amazed. He then saw Professor Trelawney, who was looking at him with the same mournful expression he had seen when she looked at Harry, as if she was seeing his funeral, and was trying to pick out the flowers she would put on his grave.

Finally, Ron walked past Mad-Eye Moody, who looked alarmed and, if possible, scared.

Ron pushed open the door to the Trophy Room and followed the flight of stairs. He had gone numb all over. Sure, he had joked around about being Hogwarts Champion, but now that it happened, he realised he was not at all ready.

As he reached the interior of the room, he saw the Veela girl, Fleur, the Bulgarian Seeker, Krum, and Pretty-Boy Diggory.

"Vot iz it?" Fleur asked. "Do you 'ave a message?"

Ron shook his head. He did not know how to describe what had just happened.

He half-hoped that Fleur, Krum and Cedric would start laughing and Fleur would be saying, "You fell for ze joke! It was very vunny!"

But no one spoke. The older champions just stared at Ron, and he hoped that very soon, he would wake from a horrible nightmare.

**I hope you liked this chapter, and if you didn't, please tell me why and how you think I can improve. **


	2. Chapter 2

Ron barely listened as the teachers and judges argued about how a fourteen-year old had gotten past the Age Line.

"It is amazing!" Ludo Bagman yelled for the sixth time.

"How is zis leettle boy meant to compete?" Fleur asked, and Ron felt a string of anger.

"He, along with his pal, Potter, have been breaking rules for years," said Snape. "Of cause they did the great Switcheroo and decided it was time for Weasley to get some limelight."

"What do you say, Mad-Eye?" Karkaroff spat. "You are meant to think as Dark Wizards do, am I correct?"

"I trust that you remember, Igor?" Moody asked in a nonchalant voice, but his face gave him away. He was still looking bewildered.

"Not Ron!" Hagrid said. "This is not right, Dumbledore!"

"Dumbly-dorr must have made a meestake with ze Age Line," Madame Maxine said.

"It is possible," Dumbledore said, shrugging.

"Dumbledore, of course you did not make a mistake!" McGonnagal yelled. "You are the Greatest Wizard of the Age!"

"That's right," Trelawney said. "Perhaps an older student placed Mr. Weasley's name in the Goblet of Fire. Yes... I see it now... they had plans of death, yes... Mr. Weasley is reaching the end of his life."

"Shut up, you old bat!" Ron suddenly exploded. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

There was a shocked silence before Karkaroff grinned like the devil.

"You see, Dumbledore?" he asked. "This boy is still an adolescent. He is still pubescent! He has no right to compete in the tournament."

"It's not about rights, Karkaroff," Moody said. "This boy has no choice. Dumbledore mentioned a binding magical contract. Mr. Weasley has no choice but to compete."

"This is true," Mr. Crouch said. "Mr. Weasley is bound to the Tournament. He is, as of tonight, a Triwizard Champion."

There was a long silence in which no one did anything but look at Ron. He felt himself going red, but he kept staring at the floor.

"How exciting!" Ludo Bagman yelled again, and broke the silence.

"How about a night-cap? Igor? Madame Maxine?"

But the Headmaster of Durmstrang and the Headmistress of Beauxbatons had already taken their champions and were leading them out of the Trophy Room, talking in very fast Bulgarian and French respectively.

Dumbledore sighed and took one last look at Ron before following them out.

When Ron opened the portrait to the Common Room, a loud applause awaited him. Gryffindors pulled him into the Common Room and started slapping him on the back in congratulations.

"Well done, Ron!" Angelina yelled. "If it's not me at least it's a Gryffindor!"

Lee Jordan had found a Gryffindor banner and tried to get Ron to wear it as a cape, but Fred and George quickly shot threats at Lee and ordered him not to do anything nice to Ron.

The twins didn't seem to be taking the fact that their younger brother had become Hogwarts champion very well. They showed it.

"Everyone!" they yelled in angry voices that didn't sound remotely like them. "It's time for bed. If anyone is still here in ten minutes, we'll hex the lot of you."

There was a loud groan of defeat from the younger students, and they began filing out of the Common Room and into their dormitories. Some sixth-years and most of the seventh-years, however, snorted and deliberately didn't move.

"Get a move on!" George yelled angrily.

"Why would you want to celebrate when a git like Ronald becomes someone that will humiliate Gryffindor? He's bottom of most of his classes!"

Ron felt another string of anger and seemed to want to shoot any spell at Fred and George.

After a while, the other students started to leave, and only the rest of the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione were left.

"You might want to go up to bed, Ron," Hermione said softly.

"Yeah," George said. "I'm sure the _Champions _need their sleep."

"Shut up, Fred," Ron said.

"I'm George!" George yelled. "And you deserved to be a Weasley you would know that!"

"Don't you go insulting Ron like that!" Ginny screamed.

"We'll do whatever the hell we want!" Fred yelled. "You can't tell us what to do!"

"Ron is not responsible for what happened tonight!" Harry yelled. "He did not put his name in the Goblet, and if he did, he would have told me!"

"Really?" Fred scoffed. "You really think Ron would have told you, or anyone for that matter, how he jinxed the Age Line? He's jealous of you, Harry! You, the Boy-Who-Lived! You, who killed the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets! You who has faced You-Know-Who so many times. Ron just wanted some fame, didn't you, Ron?"

"That's not how it happened," Harry said, but as he said it, he looked uncertainly at Ron.

"I don't know what happened tonight," Ron said quietly.

"We do," George said. "Ron, George and I have news for you. We no longer consider you as our brother. You're a traitor, and we hate you! _Stupefy!_"

No one expected George to shoot a spell at Ron, but luckily, he missed and hit one of the portraits of an old woman holding her granddaughter.

The women in the painting nearly dropped the baby, which began bawling loudly, even for a painting.

"You git!" Ron yelled at George.

Suddenly, all six in the room had their wands out. George and Fred were pointing theirs at Ron, and Ginny, Harry and Ron were pointing theirs at the Twins. Hermione was holding hers to, but seemed shocked at her daring and quickly put it back in her pocket.

"Now everyone, calm down!" she said, raising her arms. "Maybe we all need to go to bed."

"You heard her, Ron," Fred said. "Or as a school champion, do you feel too good to be around mediocre people like us?"

Ron turned slightly red and raised his wand higher.

"Stop insulting Ron!" Ginny yelled.

But as she spoke, Fred and George were already walking back up to the dormitories.

Ron dropped his wand, and Hermione patted him on the back.

"Don't worry, mate," Harry said. "We're with you."

Without another word, Ron got up and went upstairs to the fourth-year dormitory.


	3. Chapter 3

"What's their problem?" Ron hissed across the Gryffindor table at breakfast.

"Dunno," Harry replied.

A few Ravenclaws had just walked past Ron and hissed and scowled at him.

"Obvious, isn't it?" Hermione asked. "They're jealous, just like Fred and George."

"I didn't put my name in the Goblet of Fire!" Ron hissed through his teeth. "It's not my fault."

"Hey, Weasley!"

Malfoy was calling Ron from the Slytherin table.

"Stuff off, Malfoy," Ron spat back. Ron then swore at Malfoy's family several times.

"Ron—" Harry warned, but no later, Snape appeared at the Gryffindor table.

"Weasley," Snape's lip curled. "Foul language like is not permitted, even from _champions._"

Ron could see Malfoy laughing behind Snape, and soon he was furious.

"One-hundred points from Gryffindor," Snape continued.

"What?" several of the Gryffindors yelled.

"Do not backchat," Snape murmured. "Another twenty points from Gryffindor."

"You effing git!" Ron yelled at Snape, and got to his feet, his hand tightly around his wand in his pocket.

Snape merely smiled, "Another fifty points," he said. "And a week's worth of detentions for the _champion._"

With that, the overgrown bat stalked away.

Ron stayed standing for a few moments, and many people were looking at him hopefully, as if waiting for him to hex Snape.

Ron soon sat down and sighed loudly.

"What do I do, Harry?" he asked. "I feel like the world's falling apart. Fred and George hate me, along with most of the school. Any moment I'm sure I'll get a Howler from home. I can already hear Mom, '_Ronald Weasley! How do you enter yourself into the Triwizard Tournament! I hope you die in this tournament because you're disgracing the name of Weasley!_"

"Ron," Hermione reasoned. "Your mother would never say anything like that."

"Bet she'll give me a good kick up the arse when I get home for Christmas," Ron said, sulkily. "That's if she'll let me back into the house."

"I don't think you entered this tournament on purpose," came a sleepy voice from behind Ron.

Ron turned, and saw a girl in third-year with dirty blonde hair standing behind him.

"Uh... thanks," Ron said, stumped.

There was a pause, and the girl said, "I'm Luna Lovegood. Third-year, Ravenclaw. I know your sister, Ginny. She's quite nice."

"Er... I guess so," Ron said. The girl gave him another smile and then skipped away.

"What the bloody hell?" Harry asked, gobsmacked. "Who was she?"

"Luna Lovegood," Hermione repeated. "At least, the school calls her _Loony_ Lovegood. She doesn't believe in anything unless there is absolutely no proof at all."

Ron's face fell, "Oh, great," he said. "That makes me feel much better."

"C'mon, Ron," Harry said. "We've got Professor Trelawney now. Did you finish your star-chart?"

While Ron and Harry were on their way to the Divination tower, they ran into Mad-Eye Moody.

"Good-day, Potter," Moody growled. Then his eyes fell on Ron. His upper lip curled.

"Er... hi, sir," Ron said.

Moody paused for a moment. "Your name's Weasley, right? Your father is quite friendly to me. Got me out of a tight spot before term started."

"Yeah, Dad told me," Ron said, shrugging.

"What do you have now?" he growled.

"Divi- divination," Ron said, trying to take a step back.

"Oh no you don't," Moody said, grabbing Ron roughly by the collar. "Potter, you go on. I just want a word with Mr. Weasley."

Reluctantly, Harry proceeded to Divination, leaving Ron with Moody.

"So, Weasley," Moody said. "School Champion. How does that make you feel?"

"Uh... dunno," Ron said. "I haven't really thought about it."

"Do you have any idea how your name ended up in the Goblet of Fire?" Moody asked, his magical eye scrutinizing Ron.

"No... It wasn't me," Ron said.

"Yeah, it wasn't."

Ron waited for Moody to continue, but he didn't.

"Yeah," Moody finally said, lost in thought. "I have no idea how your name ended up in the Goblet. It wasn't meant to be... The Dark—"

Moody cut himself off. He looked guilty, as if he'd almost said something that he shouldn't.

"Get yourself to class, Weasley," he said, as the bell rang. "I'll be in touch. You might need some help."

With that, Moody stalked off.

Harry's POV

When the clock struck midnight, Harry's dream changed.

He had been dreaming of him playing in the 423rd Quidditch World Cup, perfecting the Wronski Feint, going head-to-head with Viktor Krum and the Bulgarian Quidditch team. But then the entire image changed. There was no pitch, no supporters, no Snitch, no team, no Quidditch.

"You failed me," came a high cold voice.

"Master...," another voice pleaded. "I do not understand. I put Potter's name in the Goblet, but for some reason, that Weasley—"

"You do realise that you've ruined my entire plan, Bartemius?" the high voice said. "You, who is supposedly my biggest supporter, my highest servant..."

"Master, I am!" the other voice said. "It was a mistake, which can be rectified!"

"How?" the high voice asked coldly. "I might as well kill you now!"

"Master, _please_."

"CRUCIO!"

Harry woke up with a start. Next to him, Ron was snoring.

_It was just a dream_," he told himself. _That wasn't really Voldemort... _

**Please read and review. I know you probably didn't like the fact that I involved Harry having a dream about You-Know-Who, but I don't really think that it is possible for Ron to dream about the Dark Lord. And by the way, I don't want to use the same Triwizard Tournament tasks that JK Rowling used, so if you have any ideas for tasks for the tournament, please review and tell me. Thanks! **


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next few days, it seemed to Ron as if life was the worst thing ever thought of. Fred and George still seemed to hate him, and did not hesitate when a chance arose to hex Ron somewhere in the corridor. They'd also attempted to feed him some of the Ton-Tongue Toffee by hiding it in his breakfast, but Harry'd spotted it before Ron had eaten his bagel.

Most of the school still thought he was a prat, as well, and they all seemed to be supporting Diggory, which made Ron hate him even more.

Ron had gained another month's detentions when he had lost his temper with Snape and used some brilliant swear words on the Potions Master.

The Howler from home, as he'd predicted, went about how disappointed Mrs Weasley was in him and how bending the rules all the time did not make him cool, in her eyes it made him seem like a stupid little girl who wanted some fame.

Most of the Gryffindors, and Hermione and Harry, stayed on his side. With them, the entire thing was almost bearable. He thanked them continuously for staying at his side, no matter what, because he had to admit to himself that he wasn't sure if he'd do the same if Harry's name had come out of the Goblet of Fire.

The Slytherins were as horrible as always, but they had reached an all time low. Malfoy had attempted to start a duel with Ron in the Charms corridor, but he had made sure that he had Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson and almost a dozen other Slytherins behind him at the time. Harry and Hermione had seemed perfectly ready to jinx Malfoy and the others, but luckily Professor Flitwick had intervened before anyone had been hurt.

Everything seemed to have power to make Ron's ears red, just like when he'd been in a double Potions lesson and Malfoy had shown him a badge of his own creation, which said WEASLEY STINKS whenever you pressed it. That same day, as soon as Snape mentioned that he would be poisoning someone in the class and then using Ron's antidote on them to see if it worked ("Feel safe, as I'm sure the _champion _will have brewed an antidote well enough to save you"), the third-year who normally looked up to Harry, Colin Creevey, came bounding into the dungeon.

"Yes, what is it?" Snape said.

"Please, sir," Colin said. "I've been sent for Ron... you know? Weasley? The champion? They want to take photos."

The Slytherins sniggered and Snape's lip curled.

"Very well," Snape said. "Weasley, leave your bags here. I hope your antidote has been brewed far enough to revive the person whom I poison." His eyes flickered over Harry.

Seeing as how Ron had only been working on his antidote for a few minutes, and all he'd done was grate his shard of dragon tail, this didn't seem likely. Thankfully, Colin came to his rescue.

"Please, sir. Dumbledore said to bring all his things. It might take a while, you see?"

"Very well!" Snape hissed. "Weasley, take your things and get out of my sight! I'll be using Longbottom's antidote instead."

Harry gulped, but gave Ron thumbs up as he packed his bag away. Ron smiled back half-heartedly, and Hermione muttered, "At least you'll get to be the in paper..."

Colin led Ron to the Trophy Room once again, but before he opened the door, he said, "I think it's really great that Harry found out how to get your name in the Goblet of Fire. I'd've thought he'd put his own name in. Well, good luck for the first task, Ron!"

When Ron entered the room, every eye turned to face him. He felt himself going red, and walked in with his head down.

The judge, Ludo Bagman, walked over to Ron in the corner and slapped him on the back playfully, "Ronnie!" he said. "Our youngest champion! Our fourth champion!"

A middle-aged blonde woman with horrible spectacles walked over to them. Ron attempted to remember where he'd seen her before, but could not.

"So you were not lying, Ludo?" the woman asked Mr Bagman.

"No, certainly not, Rita!" Bagman said. "We have no idea how it happened. This is, by far, the most exciting Triwizard Tournament already, I must say!"

Ludo marched off as Ron suddenly remembered who the woman was. She was Rita Skeeter, the woman Dad and Percy kept complaining about. Apparently, she wrote nothing but terrible stories that always punctured reputations. Ron was woefully aware that she was staring at him as if he was a very disgusting Potions ingredient.

"Well," she said. "I think it's best if we get an interview with the youngest champion, don't you think, Ludo?"

"Why, certainly!" Ludo boomed. "But maybe a little later. Dumbledore will be here soon and then we can begin the Weighing of the Wands ceremony!"

"Er... the what?" Ron asked.

"The Weighing of the Wands," Ludo said. "It's just a little ceremony where we look to see if all your wands are in working order for the Tasks!"

"We'll be quick," Rita Skeeter said, winking, steering Ron out of the Trophy Room and into the next door, which was a broom cupboard.

Ron was much too tall for the little cupboard, but Rita didn't notice as his head hit the ceiling half a dozen times. Once they'd finally sat down, he had many pains in his head and was feeling pretty huffed.

"So," Rita said, reaching into her bag and pulling out an emerald green quill. "Mr Weasley... Mr Ronald Bilius Weasley..."

Ron didn't ask how she knew his full name. He watched in amazement as he sucked the end of the quill, and then balanced it on a parchment notepad.

"Um... what are you doing?" Ron asked.

"Quick-Quotes Quill," Rita said, which cleared nothing up. She obviously saw his dumbfounded expression, because she smiled and said, "Testing. My name is Rita Skeeter, editor of the _Daily Prophet._"

Ron watched in amazement as the Quick-Quotes Quill began scribbling over the parchment. After a few seconds, it read,

_Attractive blonde, Rita Skeeter, 41, who's savage quill has punctured many inflated reputations, sits with young Ronald Weasley, 14, who's flaming red hair suggests the fiery delinquent within._

"I am not a delinquent!" Ron said indignantly.

"Of course not, dear," Rita said, ripping the parchment out and stuffing it into her handbag. "So, let's begin. How does it feel to be the fourth Triwizard Champion?"

Ron said, "Er... Okay, I guess."

"Are you nervous? The other champions are all much older than you. Do you think you've learned enough?"

"Er... maybe... I dunno... I mean, I've done dangerous things before..."

"Ah, yes," Rita said. "I wanted to ask you about that too. You're friends with Harry Potter, am I right?"

"Yeah," Ron said.

"Do you feel better now that you know that Potter can help you with the Tasks? He's top of your year, I think?"

"Harry?" Ron laughed. "Nah, that's Hermione."

"Ooooh, a girl?" Rita squealed. "Did you put your name in the Goblet as to get this Hermione to notice you more?"

"Hermione...we're... um... she's my friend!"

"Is friendship enough for you, Ronald? Is Hermione pretty?"

"Yeah, I guess so, but as I said, we're just friends..."

Obviously Rita was not satisfied with Ron's answers. She stared at him mournfully for a moment, but before she could open her mouth again, the door to the broom cupboard swung open, revealing Professor Dumbledore.

"Ah, Dumbledore!" Rita said, quickly slipping the Quick-Quotes Quill back into her handbag.

"Good-day to you, Rita," Dumbledore said. "Do you mind if I borrow young Mr Weasley? The Weighing of the Wands is about to begin, and we cannot begin when one of our champions is inside a broom cupboard."

"Certainly, Dumbledore," Rita said, getting up and steering Ron back outside.

**I hope you liked the chapter. I would've made the entire Weighing of the Wands ceremony part of this chapter, but I didn't want it to be too long. Please review now that you've read it!**


	5. Chapter 5

"Mr Weasley, you next."

Ron, who had been too busy looking at Fleur out of the corner of his eye, jumped up slightly when Mr Ollivander called his name.

"Wha...what?" he asked. He blushed when he realised how stupid he must've looked.

"Your wand, Mr Weasley," Mr Ollivander replied patiently.

"Oh," Ron said. "Yeah...sure..."

He walked up to Ollivander and handed him the wand. The aged wand-maker twirled the wand in his hands for a few moments before he spoke, "Yes... Fourteen inches... wand of willow... inflexible... unicorn tail hair core... am I right?"

"Er... yeah... spot on," Ron said.

"This wand has been in use since last year?" Ollivander asked, studying Ron.

"Um... yeah," Ron said. "My old wand was broken by the Whomping Willow."

"My dear boy!" Ollivander said loudly. "Why would you surrender your poor wand to such torture?"

"It... was an accident," Ron said, aghast.

Mr Ollivander gave Ron a very dirty look and then pointed Ron's wand to his feet. He muttered something that Ron could not hear, and Ron's shoes turned into badgers.

"Your wand is in perfect working condition," Ollivander said, handing Ron back his wand.

"Hey! Turn my shoes back!" Ron yelled, as the badgers scurried out of sight.

"Too late," Ollivander said in a spiteful voice. "Maybe if you go and look by the Whomping Willow..."

Ron thought the old man was being rather childish, getting angry just because Ron had broken his old wand. In a huff, he went back to his seat.

"Time for photographs!" Rita Skeeter exclaimed. "Everyone... get into positions please!"

The photo's took quite a while. Madame Maxime was too tall to get into the photo frame, and Rita and the photographer had an argument about who should stand in the front, Fleur or Ron. It seemed as if Rita thought Ron was going to attract more readers ("Everyone loves a rebel!") while the photographer thought Fleur's beauty would. However, after an individual photo of Fleur, Ron saw the photographer sneakily place the photograph in his back pocket.

"Last photo!" Dumbledore called. "Dinner is about to start."

However, when they were about to take the last photo, the doors to the Trophy Room, and a girl with dirty blonde hair walked in.

Ron instantly recognised her as the Loony Lovegood girl, and she looked particularly crazy when she realised she had entered the wrong room.

"Sorry," she said in her dreamy voice. "I thought this was the bathroom." But she did not leave, and watched in amazement as they took the last photograph.

When they finally began to disperse, the Luna girl hopped out to Ron's side.

"Hello, Ronald!" she said.

"Hi," he replied.

For a minute, they walked in silence, in which Ron was blissfully aware that Luna was staring at him.

"So... um... you know Ginny?" he finally asked.

"Oh, yes," Luna said happily. "She's very nice."

"Yeah, you said that..."

"Oh," Luna said. "Well, you guys have the same hair."

Ron laughed, "Yeah... Our whole family has red hair."

"Really?" Luna asked, amazed. "Most of my family is blonde, though my uncle Odis has green hair. Though Daddy says it might be because he keeps using it to clean his nose."

Ron had no idea what to say to that, and fought back a laugh.

"You're not wearing shoes," Luna pointed out.

"Oh, yeah," Ron said. "Mr Ollivander turned them into badgers."

"Oh," Luna said seriously. "You wouldn't be the first. Cornelius Fudge has an entire secret Department at the Ministry devoted to shoe theft."

Ron seriously doubted this, but he said nothing.

Out of nowhere, Luna said, "You and Ginny have the same kind of hands, you know?"

Once again, this left Ron speechless. "Uh... you think so?"

"Yes, I do," Luna said brightly, and she grabbed hold of Ron's left hand to examine it. "This line here, Ginny has it too. I noticed when we were sharing a pod in Herbology. Anyway, good bye, Ron!"

She dropped his hand and skipped away.

For a few moments, Ron stayed rooted to the spot. He slowly raised his left hand and looked at it. It felt as if it was tingling. That had been the closest he had ever come to holding a girl's hand, he found himself thinking as he stared at Luna's retreating figure.

_Wow, she's actually quite pretty! _Ron realised as Luna turned back once more and waved at him. He hadn't noticed before... the perfect curve of her nose... the way her blonde hair bounced as she trotted away gracefully. The way...

WAIT!

Ron had to slap himself to get out the day dream. What the bloody hell was that? He'd never complimented a girl that much before, not even Hermione.

_I must be tired or something, _Ron thought. After all, that was LOONY Lovegood.

Shaking his head to himself, feeling very confused, Ron went and sat between Hermione and Harry at the Gryffindor Table.


	6. Chapter 6

Ron stayed well clear of Loony Lovegood for the next few weeks leading up to the First Task. All the stress of the Tournament must be unhinging him. Thinking you're falling in love with a crazy person was a sure sign of that, right?

Ron also felt like he should be doing something to get ready for the task, but since he had no idea what it was, he couldn't really do much. He, Hermione and Harry spent hours cooped up the library, reading up on all the other Triwizard Tournament's that had happened before. Ron noticed with a pang that all the students who were in the tournament and under the age of fifteen almost always ended up dead or in a closed ward at St. Mungos.

"Maybe we should practice some basic jinxes," Harry suggested, pushing aside the fifth dusty book that he had read.

And so they did. Hermione borrowed a couple of books from the library, and they used Professor McGonnagal's classroom during breaks.

"I think that's enough of Stunning," Hermione said, getting up after being reawakened by Harry.

"Yeah," Harry, who also looked bruised, said. "I think Ron's got the gist of it."

Just then the door to the Transfiguration classroom swung open. To Ron's horror, Luna Lovegood swayed inside, looking like she was waltzing with herself.

"Oh, hi Ronald!" she said happily. "I've been told to give you this!"

She walked up to Ron and thrust out an envelope that was obviously from Hagrid, given the fact that the handwriting that said, "Ron Weasley" was his. As Ron took the envelope from Luna, he made sure that their hands did not touch, not even an inch. He felt himself going red again, and saw Hermione looking at him with a curious expression out of the corner of his eye. Luckily, she said nothing.

Once Luna had skipped away with a "Bye, Ronald!" Harry and Hermione waited patiently for him to open the letter.

_Dear Ron, _

_Do you think you could meet me at 11 o clock tonight outside my cabin? I have something to show you that I think will interest you. _

_Don't bring Hermione and Harry. I don't want you all to get into trouble, if you're caught. _

_Hagrid. _

"What the bloody hell?" Ron asked, perplexed. "He's never asked us to visit him after dark."

"Not us, _you_," Hermione said. "I wonder why he wants Harry and I to stay away?"

"He said it here," Ron said, gesturing the letter. "_I don't want you all to get into trouble. _Oh, but he's fine with me getting into trouble."

"You can take the Cloak," Harry said. "That way you won't get caught."

"Oh, I hope he doesn't want to show you something dangerous, Ron!" Hermione squealed.

"As long as it's not spiders or Skrewts, I'm fine with it," Ron said.

Later that night, at ten thirty, Ron pretended to go up to bed, where he took Harry's Invisibility Cloak and walked down to the Common Room again. Then, he waited at the portrait hole for Hermione to say the password from the outside.

"We'll wait up," she whispered, as Ron stalked past.

"Yeah, thanks," Ron whispered back.

He encountered no one on his way to Hagrid's, except Mrs Norris on the third floor. He took great pleasure in hissing at her and watching her jumping around frantically, trying to locate the culprit.

Once in the grounds, he noticed how eerie things looked now, especially the Forbidden Forest. Distantly, he heard a howl. He hoped that Hagrid would not be taking him to the Forest. He had bad experiences in there.

When he got to Hagrid's cabin, he let the Cloak slip off him a bit so that Hagrid could see him, and let himself in.

"Glad yeh here, Ron," Hagrid said. "I think we'll just wait a few more minutes fer Olympe, and then we'll go down."

"Olympe?" Ron asked. "Who's that? And Hagrid, what're we doing tonight?"

"Yeh'll see," Hagrid said. "I knew yeh weren't gettin' on too well preparing fer the task."

"Wait a minute," Ron said. "Hagrid— _do you know what's in the first task_?"

Hagrid just shrugged guiltily, and then there a knock at the door.

"The Cloak!" Hagrid hissed, as he went to open the door.

Outside stood Madame Maxime.

"'Agrid," she said breathlessly. "Vot is it you wish to show moi?"

"Yeh'll be glad yeh came," Hagrid said. "Trust me!"

Half an hour later, as Ron went back up to castle. He felt extremely light headed. He was stupid in thinking he might've stood a chance in the Tournament with Harry and Hermione's help. He stood absolutely no chance.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, once Ron had taken off the Cloak in the Common Room. She and Harry sat by the good chairs near the fire.

"It's— nothing," Ron lied. "I'm fine."

"What did Hagrid want to show you?" Harry asked.

"What's in store for the first task," Ron said.

"AND?" Both Harry and Hermione said at once.

Ron gulped. " 


End file.
